Who would have thought? Solstice was voted the Top Obscure Feminist SF Novel at Feminist SF – The Blog!
I wanted to take this chance to thank everyone who voted for my novel. Thank you so much! The surprising success Solstice has managed would never have been possible without the help and support of you, my friends, family, and readers. And a special thanks to the folks over at Feminist SF for holding this vote.
So what’s next? Well, hopefully this will give Solstice some much-needed exposure, now that things have been kind of quiet for it for a while. Regardless, I think making it to this Top 10 list will only help down the road, especially when contacting an agent regarding Inventing Vazquez.
Speaking of which, I’m about 20 percent through the next re-write, and pleased with the progress and results. I’m focusing now on making the writing as tight and descriptive as possible, and am confident I’ll have an agent-ready draft within a couple of months. That’s the hope, anyway.
Unfortunately, I seem to have a real knack for distracting myself with other fun stuff. Aside from now writing for Urban Molecule, I’ve officially joined another band. Well, it’s the same line-up I was in with last year at the blues competition, but this time we’re under a new name and a new direction. And, if that weren’t enough, I’ve finally figured out the wonders of recording music on Garageband on my Mac, and have started recording my own songs. It’s amazing what you can do with a little laptop and a $90 pre-amp… I’m really excited about this, because one of my goals for 2008 was to record my own ‘album’, and I think now I have the motivation and gear to do so. Plus, I relish the challenge of self-recording an album and playing all the instruments myself. Since I’m nowhere near as good a guitarist or drummer as I am a bassist, I’m sure it’ll sound like crap, but I’m not too worried. It’s not like I’m going to make a career out of it ^_^;
Anyway, thank you all again for helping to give Solstice this humble recognition.
Showing posts with label sci-fi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sci-fi. Show all posts
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Vote for Solstice ^_^
Here’s your chance to help my little novel get on a Top 10 list! It turns out Solstice was nominated for Feminist SF’s list of Top 10 Obscure SF Feminist Novels! A poll is now open. And, because I’m encouraged to be a shameless self-promoter by all the publishing books, I’d like to ask you to go over to the Feminist SF blog and vote for Solstice!
You can check out the main contest info page here.
Why is Solstice considered a feminist SF novel? Because the lead character is Io, a Japanese-Mexican woman with a penchant for kicking butt ^_^ And her partner is Yuniko, a Japanese woman who passes her time hacking disreputable companies into the ground. And their boss is Anika, an African-American matriarch who’s as commanding as she is secretive. And the person Io after is a Lao woman named Jai Lin. So yeah, I guess you can say Solstice has its fair share of strong female characters. So much so, someone once asked me if I ever planned on writing anything featuring actual males. ^_^;
Anyway, I hope you’ll vote! I’d be much obliged!
On other fronts, today I’m officially starting the next edit/rewrite of Inventing Vazquez, but what’s got me more excited is this. I’ve decided to just go ahead and start work on its sequel, tentatively titled Electing Choi. Not only do I have a bunch of plot and subplot ideas for the sequel, but yesterday my girlfriend and I hit upon a character twist that will affect both novels. I don’t want to say what it is, but it’s a radical character change that will very positively impact one of the main characters in Inventing Vazquez. And it will create the sort of thematic subplot necessary to drive the main plot of Electing Choi. So yeah, I’m excited about it ^_^
And it that weren’t enough, I’m already contemplating a third book in the series @_@ Strange, I always thought Solstice and the Scribe vs. Editor thing would be my main franchise. Yet here I am, already thinking of a trilogy for Inventing Vazquez…
Anyway, have a great holiday weekend, everyone! Happy Fourth of July! And please remember to vote, if you think Solstice is worthy of consideration as a Top 10 Obscure Feminist SF Novel ^^;
You can check out the main contest info page here.
Why is Solstice considered a feminist SF novel? Because the lead character is Io, a Japanese-Mexican woman with a penchant for kicking butt ^_^ And her partner is Yuniko, a Japanese woman who passes her time hacking disreputable companies into the ground. And their boss is Anika, an African-American matriarch who’s as commanding as she is secretive. And the person Io after is a Lao woman named Jai Lin. So yeah, I guess you can say Solstice has its fair share of strong female characters. So much so, someone once asked me if I ever planned on writing anything featuring actual males. ^_^;
Anyway, I hope you’ll vote! I’d be much obliged!
On other fronts, today I’m officially starting the next edit/rewrite of Inventing Vazquez, but what’s got me more excited is this. I’ve decided to just go ahead and start work on its sequel, tentatively titled Electing Choi. Not only do I have a bunch of plot and subplot ideas for the sequel, but yesterday my girlfriend and I hit upon a character twist that will affect both novels. I don’t want to say what it is, but it’s a radical character change that will very positively impact one of the main characters in Inventing Vazquez. And it will create the sort of thematic subplot necessary to drive the main plot of Electing Choi. So yeah, I’m excited about it ^_^
And it that weren’t enough, I’m already contemplating a third book in the series @_@ Strange, I always thought Solstice and the Scribe vs. Editor thing would be my main franchise. Yet here I am, already thinking of a trilogy for Inventing Vazquez…
Anyway, have a great holiday weekend, everyone! Happy Fourth of July! And please remember to vote, if you think Solstice is worthy of consideration as a Top 10 Obscure Feminist SF Novel ^^;
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Moving along with another review (plus some notes about the next novel)
Saludos!
Well, Solstice has just gotten another review! Woohoo!! This one is by Lisa Alvarado, a noted Chicana author (Sister Chicas), poet, and performance artist, and regular contributor to La Bloga! And it’s a good one ^^; In fact, Ms. Alvarado has this to say about the book:
"It's a clever spin and a birthing of a universe equal to Dick's replicants and humans in Blade Runner, or Marv Wolfman's skinwalkers and vampires in Blade…While Dick's influence is clear, Silva's terrain is a unique one, his style noirish, his female characters strong and tender, ruthless and unstoppable."
…....wow ^___^; I highly encourage you to stop by La Bloga and read the rest. La Bloga is a site run by a group of prominent Chicano authors and writers, and dedicated to the reviews, discussion, and exposure of new Latino/a creative voices. Needless to say, I consider it an absolute honor to be mentioned on their site. So Lisa, muchas gracias!!! ^__^
Some other stuff has been going on as of late. Let’s see…
Well, as I mentioned the last time I wrote in this thing, I finished my first draft of my new novel, a comedic satire I’ve entitled Inventing Vazquez. I’ve decided to put the book away for a month before starting on the rewrite, to kind of clear my head and approach the book in January with fresh eyes. But I’m excited about having finished the draft all the same, especially because now I can start thinking in terms of ‘when will this be published?’ In fact, assuming I’m going the self-publishing route again (and given the unexpected success of Solstice, it’s not an idea I’m adverse to), I think I’m going to shoot for an early 2009 release ^^;; Hey, I’m crazy, I know.
Of course, in the meantime, with a month to spare before picking up Inventing Vazquez again, I’ve decided to start working on my new novel. Only problem is…transitioning from Inventing Vazquez’ light-hearted, mirthful tone, to The Mourning Syndrome’s dreary, depressing, and apocalyptic tone, is proving more of a challenge than I thought. I hope to start writing soon, because I really want to get going on it. Just have to finish outlining the plot, the main characters, and a single plot-related question that has, so far, been unanswerable. I guess I have to keep brainstorming. And watching Kairo 15 more times ^^;;;
It’s funny, too. I know some people have expressed concern over my schizophrenic writing projects (i.e., end of the world story, happy story, back to end of the world story, next one probably happy again). And I know that, given the fact that I’m trying to establish myself as a speculative fiction writer, Inventing Vazquez could be a problem to market. Still, I haven’t let that stop me. Not only was the new book a lot of fun to write, but the truth is…it tells a story that I think needs to be told. That’s to say, I have some thoughts on Hollywood and its portrayal of Latino/as and people of color, and Inventing Vazquez gives voice to those thoughts. So I’m not really worrying about whether it’s wise, career-wise, to publish it. I’ll do so regardless, and let the chips fall where they may.
Oh, I’m starting to take up some other projects as well. In fact, I just wrote a review of a Japanese movie called Dragon Head for Quiet Earth, and you can read it here. It’s given me the idea that, considering how much I LOVE Japanese and Asian horror movies, I might start a review blog for them. So there’s that. Also, I’m meeting with Christopher from Urban Molecule next week in NYC, and there’s a chance I might be able to contribute something to them, which would be really exciting. I guess I had to come out of my writing shell at some point, huh? ^^;
Okay, I’ve babbled long enough. And don’t forget to buy your copy of Solstice at our site or anywhere where books are sold! After all, nothing says, “happy holidays, I really love/like/marginally tolerate you, so here’s a joyous gift for you” than a book about the end of the world ^^;;
Well, Solstice has just gotten another review! Woohoo!! This one is by Lisa Alvarado, a noted Chicana author (Sister Chicas), poet, and performance artist, and regular contributor to La Bloga! And it’s a good one ^^; In fact, Ms. Alvarado has this to say about the book:
"It's a clever spin and a birthing of a universe equal to Dick's replicants and humans in Blade Runner, or Marv Wolfman's skinwalkers and vampires in Blade…While Dick's influence is clear, Silva's terrain is a unique one, his style noirish, his female characters strong and tender, ruthless and unstoppable."
…....wow ^___^; I highly encourage you to stop by La Bloga and read the rest. La Bloga is a site run by a group of prominent Chicano authors and writers, and dedicated to the reviews, discussion, and exposure of new Latino/a creative voices. Needless to say, I consider it an absolute honor to be mentioned on their site. So Lisa, muchas gracias!!! ^__^
Some other stuff has been going on as of late. Let’s see…
Well, as I mentioned the last time I wrote in this thing, I finished my first draft of my new novel, a comedic satire I’ve entitled Inventing Vazquez. I’ve decided to put the book away for a month before starting on the rewrite, to kind of clear my head and approach the book in January with fresh eyes. But I’m excited about having finished the draft all the same, especially because now I can start thinking in terms of ‘when will this be published?’ In fact, assuming I’m going the self-publishing route again (and given the unexpected success of Solstice, it’s not an idea I’m adverse to), I think I’m going to shoot for an early 2009 release ^^;; Hey, I’m crazy, I know.
Of course, in the meantime, with a month to spare before picking up Inventing Vazquez again, I’ve decided to start working on my new novel. Only problem is…transitioning from Inventing Vazquez’ light-hearted, mirthful tone, to The Mourning Syndrome’s dreary, depressing, and apocalyptic tone, is proving more of a challenge than I thought. I hope to start writing soon, because I really want to get going on it. Just have to finish outlining the plot, the main characters, and a single plot-related question that has, so far, been unanswerable. I guess I have to keep brainstorming. And watching Kairo 15 more times ^^;;;
It’s funny, too. I know some people have expressed concern over my schizophrenic writing projects (i.e., end of the world story, happy story, back to end of the world story, next one probably happy again). And I know that, given the fact that I’m trying to establish myself as a speculative fiction writer, Inventing Vazquez could be a problem to market. Still, I haven’t let that stop me. Not only was the new book a lot of fun to write, but the truth is…it tells a story that I think needs to be told. That’s to say, I have some thoughts on Hollywood and its portrayal of Latino/as and people of color, and Inventing Vazquez gives voice to those thoughts. So I’m not really worrying about whether it’s wise, career-wise, to publish it. I’ll do so regardless, and let the chips fall where they may.
Oh, I’m starting to take up some other projects as well. In fact, I just wrote a review of a Japanese movie called Dragon Head for Quiet Earth, and you can read it here. It’s given me the idea that, considering how much I LOVE Japanese and Asian horror movies, I might start a review blog for them. So there’s that. Also, I’m meeting with Christopher from Urban Molecule next week in NYC, and there’s a chance I might be able to contribute something to them, which would be really exciting. I guess I had to come out of my writing shell at some point, huh? ^^;
Okay, I’ve babbled long enough. And don’t forget to buy your copy of Solstice at our site or anywhere where books are sold! After all, nothing says, “happy holidays, I really love/like/marginally tolerate you, so here’s a joyous gift for you” than a book about the end of the world ^^;;
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
